Florida Highway Patrol deals with trooper shortage

Number of speeding tickets issued by agency drops for 3 straight years

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The number of speeding tickets issued by the Florida Highway Patrol has dropped for three straight years as the agency deals with a shortage of troopers.

Col. Gene Spaulding told the Miami Herald that the agency has lost 993 troopers -- about half of its workforce -- to retirement or resignation since 2010.

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Spaulding said the agency does what it can to provide public safety, patrolling areas that include interstates 4, 75 and 95 in the nation's third most populated state, which is a tourist destination.

The Herald cited low pay as a possible reason for high turnover. A starting trooper in Florida makes about $34,000, the same wage that's been in effect since 2005. Starting pay for a trooper is $38,000 in Mississippi and $47,000 in Louisiana.